Roots

Ficus and banyan trees are beautiful... but before planting them, one must be aware of the aggressiveness of their root structures. They are very invasive and destructive. Near a home, they will eventually invade the foundation and may even find ways to your toilet! In Miami, many concrete sidewalks are cracked and destroyed because they happen to be near a ficus tree. However, the roots are lovely to look at. Stare at this a while and you'll fall in love and you'd want to hug the trees.

In Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses, the village of Titlipur is built around an enormous banyan tree, whose roots cover an area "half a mile in diameter." The tree is intrinsic to the village with some villagers building shelters in it and others living in the foliage. Did you also know that Robinson Crusoe, in 1719, built his house in a banyan tree? Well, that's according to the novel, and if I were him, I would be very happy to find a big banyan tree and build a big house in which to live.